


Flirting

by Fireborn



Category: Kingdom Hearts (Video Games)
Genre: First Kiss, Flirting, Fluff, Getting Together, M/M, Sora Is a Ray of Sunshine (Kingdom Hearts)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-12
Updated: 2021-02-12
Packaged: 2021-03-18 18:34:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,277
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29373150
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fireborn/pseuds/Fireborn
Summary: When Roxas tells a confused Sora to stop flirting with Riku, Sora goes on a quest to figure out what flirting means. He discovers a little bit more than just the meaning of the word itself, though.
Relationships: Riku/Sora (Kingdom Hearts)
Comments: 46
Kudos: 171





	Flirting

**Author's Note:**

> Something soft and fluffy because I've been feeling a bit overwhelmed lately. Also, today's my birthday, and here in The Netherlands we have a saying that goes "when it's your birthday, you hand out treats", so here we are!
> 
> Thank you to mousapelli for the beta and being awesome!

“Sora…”

“Hmmm…?” Sora hummed thoughtlessly, leaning against the counter in what he hoped was a casual manner, his eyes trained on where Riku was bent over his gummiphone at the kitchen table. For some reason, he caught himself hoping Riku would look up and look at _him_ instead of his phone. 

“Sora.”

And had Riku’s hair always been this soft and shiny, or was it the magic lights of the Tower kitchen that made it look extra pretty? Or maybe his grey hoodie made it look even shinier and more silver?

“Sora!”

A light slap to his right forearm made Sora’s attention snap away from Riku’s shiny hair and first to his arm—now covered in a flour-white hand-print—and then to Naminé’s frowny face.

“Huh?” he asked intelligently, pouting slightly. Surely that was a _little_ uncalled for.

“Pay attention!” Naminé chided. “These sugar cookies aren’t going to make themselves.”

Ah, cookies, yes. Somehow, Sora’s thoughts had been miles away while staring at Riku engrossed in his phone, but now that he was no longer looking at Riku, his brain seemed to work less like warm, smooth syrup and more like the rockets of a gummi ship again.

“Cookies! Yes!” Sora exclaimed, summoning a jet of water out of thin air to clear the flour off his skin and only barely avoiding getting water over his red hoodie and Naminé’s lilac dress.

Shaking her head, Naminé sighed, but Sora could tell it was more in amusement than in annoyance because she was smiling, too. “The tap is _right there_ , Sora.”

Sora put his left hand on his hip and extended his right arm to Naminé to show it was all clean again, if a little wet. “This is more convenient though! Now I don’t have to move at all!”

Behind him, Riku laughed, and Sora twisted his head around so fast he almost saw white stars. Riku was smiling at him, shaking his head as well, but his smile was different from Naminé’s. It was softer, somehow. Brighter? It made Sora’s stomach swoop pleasantly, and he couldn’t help sending Riku his brightest grin back.

“Sora,” Naminé said with an audibly dwindling amount of patience. “The cookies.”

Right. The cookies.

Sora turned back around with a little bit of regret. 

He really liked Naminé. He liked cookies. And it had seemed like a fun plan to make cookies together on a free Saturday morning at the Tower, so he wasn’t sure why it was so hard to pay attention with Riku also in the kitchen.

Sora tripled his resolve to try, and this time, things went substantially better. Naminé read the steps and handed Sora the ingredients, and Sora made the dough. Then he rolled out the dough over the flour-covered kitchen counter while Naminé lined the oven tray with baking paper. 

They took turns cutting out various shapes of cookies—stars, hearts, flowers, and small lucky emblems until there were only small edges of dough left. Sora popped one of them in his mouth, and Naminé did the same.

Cooking or baking, once Sora got into it, was one of the few things that made his brain able to calm down for longer than just a minute. It was the fact that he had steps to follow in a recipe, which made him have to focus enough so he could tune out other near-constant static in his brain, but that the steps were clear so that he didn’t have to really _think_ about them, making it just _relaxing_ instead of demanding.

But when he and Naminé slid the tray of cookies into the large oven, and there was nothing left to do but clean up and wait, some of Sora’s attention slipped away again. Instead of cleaning the cookie cutters, he made them have a little cookie cutter fight on the kitchen counter. Just when the lucky emblem shape was winning against the star shape, Sora paused abruptly because he felt Riku’s presence to his left.

He watched as Riku reached up to grab a glass from the top shelf in one of the cabinets, standing on his tiptoes so he was able to reach it. Right when Riku was stretched out fully, Sora grinned and bumped his hip into Riku’s, making Riku lose his balance and almost drop the glass.

“Sora!” Riku said, turning a frown on Sora that was so intense that Sora could feel his cheeks heating up fiercely. That had maybe been his intent, he realised now, to get Riku to _look_ at him.

“That’s me,” Sora beamed in return, leaning forward just a little as if Riku was a magnet and Sora was naturally drawn to him.

But instead of scolding him or teasing him, Riku just shook his head and reached out to ruffle Sora’s hair. “You have flour in your hair.”

“Oh yeah,” Sora said, because sometimes things like that happened in the kitchen.

“You better give me the last cookie to make up for that.”

“Don’t worry, Riku,” Sora said earnestly. “I will!”

Riku went back to the kitchen table, this time taking out a book to start reading, sipping his water occasionally. Sora stared at him for long moments, until Naminé cleared her throat behind him, making Sora jump guiltily and turn back around.

The kitchen was all clean again, and Sora had just been looking at Riku while Naminé had done all the work… That wasn’t fair, but thankfully Naminé didn’t seem to mind. She sent him a meaningful grin, biting her lower lip to keep back her laughter.

Sora tilted his head, trying to figure out why she was grinning, but coming up blank. Just as he was debating whether or not he should ask her, the oven timer beeped, indicating ten minutes had gone by and the cookies were done, making Sora forget all about Naminé’s grin and the possible reasons for it.

  
  
  


Since it was a free Saturday, and Sora had announced to everyone that he and Naminé were making cookies and to please come try them, it was busy at the Tower. They had made over forty cookies—Sora had counted them personally—and somehow they all disappeared within the space of an hour.

Roxas and Xion had each taken several, promising they were not just for themselves but that they’d share with Lea and Isa. Kairi and Naminé had shared a dozen between them, and of course Sora had had quite a few, too. Riku had occasionally taken one as he continued to read at the kitchen table next to the open fire. So now, there was only one cookie left.

Sora, who was on the chair to Riku’s left, playing games on his phone, was eyeing it eagerly. He knew it was kind of rude to take the last cookie off a plate. At least without asking anyone else if they wanted it. Then again, he did _make_ the cookies, so maybe that sort of gave him ‘last cookie privileges’. That was a thing, right?

Right when Sora thought about slowly reaching out, he remembered that he’d promised to give Riku the last cookie, and Riku wasn’t the sort of person to just forget a promise like that.

He sighed deeply, pondering his dilemma, when he noticed Riku looking at him.

Sora looked back, and once again he felt his cheeks heat up for a reason he didn’t really understand. Riku’s eyes were really pretty, though. They were all sea-green, burning with the reflection of the fireplace, and crinkled a little in amusement. Maybe Riku’s visible happiness was the reason Sora was blushing?

Slowly, Riku reached out to the last cookie and took it from the plate, and Sora felt his face fall a little. But instead of eating it himself, Riku then handed it out to Sora. Sora eagerly leaned forward and took a bite from the cookie still in Riku’s hand.

Sora hadn’t really expected Riku to give him the last cookie, so he was pleasantly surprised. That made it so easy to beam up at Riku, whose eyes crinkled even further in return. 

“But I promised you the last cookie,” Sora said with his mouth full and a hint of remorse.

“That’s okay,” Riku replied, placing the rest of the cookie in Sora’s open palm. “That means I can do with it what I want. And I wanna give it to _you_.”

Sora’s smile turned even brighter as his chest seemed to swell with a rush of giddy energy. Just when his cheeks were beginning to hurt from smiling and chewing simultaneously, he heard a strange noise behind him that sounded like someone gagging.

“Oh my god, stop _flirting_ , you two.”

Sora swirled around in his chair to catch Roxas rolling his eyes at both of them. He frowned in confusion and spoke with his mouth full. “What?”

“Nevermind. I see we’re out of cookies.” With an exaggerated huff, Roxas turned on his heels and stalked out of the room.

Why was everyone behaving so oddly today? First Naminé, now Roxas… Sora stared after the empty doorway, racking his brain for an explanation, but nothing came to him. He shrugged.

“That was weird…” Sora said out loud. Maybe Riku would know. “Did you think that was weird?” 

When Sora turned back around to look at Riku, Riku was already looking at him, though he quickly averted his gaze towards the crumbs on the empty cookie platter when their eyes met. And wait, was Riku _blushing_? Sora couldn’t remember ever seeing Riku blush… 

“Definitely weird,” Riku said, and Sora blinked when Riku’s voice came out half an octave higher than usual.

There were a few seconds of silence during which Sora tried to figure out if Riku’s blush and his higher voice meant something before he gave up in favour of staring at Riku’s shiny silver hair again. His thoughts drifted to Riku putting the sugar cookie into Sora’s mouth, and he heard the echo of Roxas’s exasperated words in his mind.

“Hey, Riku?” he asked.

Riku turned those bright green eyes back to Sora, which sent a little thrill of excitement into Sora’s stomach, mixing with the cookies currently being digested. “Yeah?” 

“What’s flirting?” 

Sora had expected Riku to grin his familiar knowing grin and launch into a long explanation about the dictionary-perfect meaning of the word ‘flirting’. He hadn’t expected Riku to flush all the way to the tips of his ears, his mouth falling open like a fish.

That was weird, too. First Naminé, then Roxas, and now Riku? Was it something in the air?

Sora watched as Riku closed his mouth, then opened it again, then closed it again.

“I don’t know,” Riku said eventually.

Somehow, Sora doubted that, but something in Riku’s reaction told him not to press. He’d have to ask someone else. Other people were bound to know what flirting was. Right?

  
  
  
  


Later that day, after Sora had gotten bored with his video games and Riku was still engrossed in his book, he decided to wander around the Tower in search of more interesting company. In one of the cosy study rooms on the fifth floor, he found Kairi lounging sideways on the sofa, a book propped up against her legs and a cup of tea in her hand.

“Hi Kairi,” Sora said, closing the door behind him and leaning back against it.

“Hey Sora,” Kairi said without looking up, her eyes continuing to dart across the pages.

Sora narrowed his eyes and stepped closer to look at the pages of her book. They were only words. At least Riku’s book had pictures of knights and sword fights and dragons. Thinking of Riku’s book made Sora think of Riku, and that made him think of his question from earlier. Maybe Kairi would know?

“Hey, Kairi?”

“Hmm?” Kairi hummed.

“What’s flirting?”

Kairi promptly choked on her tea, coughing as she looked up at Sora. “What? Why are you asking me this?”

Sora frowned, putting his hands behind his head as he thought back to the incident earlier that afternoon in the kitchen. “Roxas came into the kitchen, and he told me and Riku to ‘stop flirting’? And then he just _left_ , it was so weird…” 

Kairi started laughing so hard that tea spilt over the edge of her cup. Even though it was only Kairi, Sora usually didn’t really like it when people laughed at him, so his frown deepened.

“Why are you laughing?”

“So wait,” Kairi said slyly, pointing at him with the teacup still in her hand. “If you were with Riku when Roxas said that… Why didn’t you ask _him_?”

“Well, you see, I _tried_ ,” Sora began, pouting a little as he crossed his arms in front of his chest. “But he got all weird and then he said he didn’t know! Which is kinda weird because Riku knows almost everything.”

Kairi laughed again, before closing her book and putting it on the coffee table. “He did, huh? Well, I can tell you if you like.”

“Yeah!” Sora said.

“Hmm, okay, so how to say,” Kairi started thoughtfully. “Like Roxas said, flirting is what you always do with Riku.”

“Well, that’s not helpful at all.” Sora uncrossed his arms and put them on his hips. He cocked his head to the left, a thoughtful expression on his face. “I do loads of things with Riku.”

Kairi sat up straighter and patted the empty spot on the couch next to her. “Okay, come sit down.”

Sora skipped over and plopped down into the couch cushions, drawing his knees up to wrap his arms around. He leaned forward eagerly. “Okay, I’m listening.”

Kairi held up a hand and started counting on her fingers. “Okay, so one. It can be when you smile at someone a lot.”

Sora pursed his lips, remembering what he and Riku had been doing. Riku had smiled at him, it was true. But then, Riku smiled at other people, too, sometimes, so that wasn’t really helpful.

“Two,” Kairi continued, holding up another finger. “Teasing someone all the time.”

“Riku does tease me _way_ too much,” Sora grumbled, thinking back to last night when Riku had spent twenty minutes keeping the remote control for the tv out of Sora’s reach, until Sora had had to resort to tickling and pinning Riku to the couch before finally being able to pry it from Riku’s fingers. 

Sora smiled at the memory. That had been really fun, though.

“Why are you smiling?” Kairi asked, bringing Sora back to the presence. When Sora looked at her, she had an expression on her face Sora wasn’t able to decipher. 

“I don’t know? It’s just fun when Riku teases me.”

“Hmmmm, is it? Why’s that?” 

“Because…” Sora started, not really knowing the answer to that question. “I like it when Riku smiles at me after he teases me? And I like it when he touches me. But he’s my best friend. Of course I feel like that with him.”

Kairi just hummed, pursing her lips as if she was holding herself back from commenting.

“What else?” Sora asked.

Kairi held up a third finger. “Touching someone more than is necessary. Like, maybe a hand on your shoulder, or ruffling your hair.”

Sora nodded, because Riku did all of those things with him, more and more lately. 

“Four, when someone compliments you a lot.”

Riku also did that a lot more often these days, just like the touching. He would compliment Sora’s cooking skills, or his fighting moves after they sparred. And at night, if Sora couldn’t sleep because he was feeling anxious, Riku would tell him how strong and brave he was. Or how much Riku believed in him. And then Sora felt better.

“Do you see now, Sora?” Kairi asked.

Shaken from his thoughts, Sora shook his head to ground himself. 

“Yeah, I guess?” he said. It was true that he and Riku did all of those things, but then…all those things Kairi mentioned were just examples. What did it actually _mean_? 

He flopped backwards onto the couch with a deep sigh. Maybe he was meant to figure that out for himself?

  
  
  
  


The cookie day incident sort of drifted to the back of Sora’s mind over the next few days, as he was kept busy by training and studying and beating Riku’s video game high scores. 

Then on Friday, Master Yen Sid asked him to run some errands in Twilight Town. Sora had wanted Riku to come with him, but since Riku had an official Keyblade Master meeting—whatever that might mean—he hadn’t been able to. He’d looked very apologetic about it though, and he’d brushed Sora’s cheek as he promised he’d make it up to him later.

That, Sora supposed, was acceptable.

He’d brought a backpack which was now filled with groceries and potions and some new accessories from the quirky, recently opened shop in the main square, and he was about to make his way back to the train station when he saw Roxas and Lea coming out of one of the alleyways where the delis were located. Clearly, they were also out grocery shopping. Roxas had one foot on his skateboard as he waved to Sora, and Sora ran over to them.

“Hi Rox! Hi Lea!”

Lea nodded to him in greeting, and Roxas smiled at him. “Hi Sora!”

“I was just about finished,” Sora said. “What about you guys?”

“I could do with a break,” Roxas said, glancing up at Lea. “You wanna get some ice cream?”

“Sure,” Lea agreed.

With all three of them in possession of a sea-salt ice cream stick, they made their way up the tower where they watched the perpetual sunset.

“Don’t you ever get tired of watching the sun go down all the time?” Sora asked, sitting down between Roxas and Lea. He slung his legs over the edge of the clock tower and started swinging his feet back and forth.

“Nah, not really,” Lea answered. “It’s kinda nice that it never gets dark here, you know?”

“And we have special blackout curtains at the mansion, so even when we sleep, it doesn’t ever bother me,” Roxas added.

Sora hummed. “I guess even back home on the Destiny Islands, the sunset was always the prettiest time of the day… The light is just…soft then.”

Thinking of the Destiny Islands made Sora think of Riku, and thinking of Riku made him think of Roxas’s strange behaviour the other day in the kitchen of the Tower.

“Oh, hey, Roxas,” Sora asked, biting off the tip of his ice cream bar. “What did you mean that day when you got all annoyed when you said Riku and I were flirting?”

Roxas all but choked on the large bite of ice cream he’d just taken, and Sora patted his back until his face wasn’t red anymore. All the while, Lea was laughing.

“Oh, Sora,” Lea said with a teasing, knowing grin. “You and Riku flirt all the time. Everyone knows that. It’s hard sometimes even being in the same _room_ as you two.”

“What?” Sora asked, turning his head around to look at Lea. “No, we don’t. Or well. Maybe we do? I don’t know… What does flirting mean?”

Lea’s smile turned into a lopsided smirk. “Why didn’t you ask _Riku_?”

Sora frowned, thinking back to how flustered Riku had gotten when he’d asked. “Riku wouldn’t tell me. He got all red and stuff.”

Lea threw back his head with laughter, laughing for a good minute while Sora first frowned, then shrugged his shoulders and started eating his ice cream again.

“Well, I’m not the best person to ask either,” Lea eventually managed to choke out between guffaws. “I’m by no means an expert on relationships.”

“Relationships?” Sora asked. “But you and Roxas and Xion are best friends?”

“Sure,” Lea agreed. “But we never _flirt_.”

“I don’t get it,” Sora said. So apparently flirting wasn’t something best friends did? Then…how did it apply to him and Riku? 

“Don’t worry, Sora.” Roxas patted his shoulder. “You’ll figure it out.”

  
  
  
  


Since apparently, Sora’s friends were either unable or unwilling to tell Sora what flirting meant, Sora tried very hard to figure it out on his own.

He wrote down all of the flirting examples Kairi had listed, but even though he could see how all of those things applied to him and Riku, he didn’t know why it was something Roxas had commented on. What was wrong with smiling at each other, or touching someone when you liked them, or complimenting or teasing someone? All of that was _fun_ , and it was especially fun when Riku did those things with him.

But then Lea had said it didn’t have to do something with being someone’s best friend, which had been Sora’s only lead so far.

Sora even wandered the aisles of the Tower library in search of advice in books, but he didn’t really know where to start. Of course, asking Master Yen Sid was also an option, but somehow the thought of that made Sora’s stomach twist into little knots, so he hadn’t been able to work up the courage yet. 

Every day made him a little more determined, though. He _would_ figure it out, with or without his friends’ help.

He just hoped that day would come soon, because the more time passed, the more he kept _thinking_ about it. Every time he smiled at Riku, every time Riku brushed their hands together. Every time Sora felt himself blushing when he and Riku sat pressed thigh to thigh and shoulder to shoulder reading stories or scrolling through Kingstagram posts on their phones. It wasn’t uncomfortable by any means—in fact, it was really _nice_ —but it was confusing, and it made Sora think of the elusive word ‘flirting’ every time. 

And then he felt like one of those cartoon characters with a giant question mark in a thought bubble.

Ultimately, the day of the revelation came when Sora was sent on a mission with Donald and Goofy to defeat some wayward Heartless in the Land of the Dragons. 

They’d teamed up with Mulan and Shang to make quick work of them. Donald and Goofy had squabbled over battle strategies while Sora snickered without getting involved, and Mulan and Shang had shared smiles with each other the whole trip up and down the mountain. It had been a lot of fun, and the fighting was very quick and efficient with the five of them, so they’d made it back to the ship in just a few hours.

Now, slumped in the copilot seat, Sora mentally compared the way Donald and Goofy had acted with each other to the way Mulan and Shang had acted together. If he were to relate his relationship with Riku with those two, what would it resemble most?

It was true that he and Riku sometimes also bickered, but they definitely smiled more at each other than that they bickered. They also never argued over battle strategies, because Riku always agreed with Sora’s ideas, or he spoke up first to outline his own ideas, and then Sora always thought they were very clever. So his relationship with Riku wasn’t really like Donald and Goofy’s relationship, even though Donald and Goofy were also friends. Maybe even best friends.

So was it more like Mulan and Shang’s, who fought together so seamlessly and checked on each other with gentle touches in between battles? Who smiled at each other for no reason that Sora could see apart from that they just liked being together?

Yes, Sora nodded. That was…exactly how he acted with Riku. But what did that mean?

He huffed exaggeratedly. Why was all of this so _difficult_?

“If you sigh one more time, I’m going to open the hatch and let you fly home on your keyblade,” Donald cut through his thoughts.

Sora sat up a little straighter and ignored Donald’s bad temper. He was done thinking about this, he would try asking one more time.

“Hey Donald, what’s flirting?”

“Sora,” Goofy piped up from the chair on the other side of Donald’s. “Is that what you’ve been so distracted about?”

“Yeah,” Sora said. “I guess… I can’t figure it out and no one seems to be able to explain it to me!”

“Well,” Donald said, puffing up his chest. “You’ve come to the right person. I’m an expert on flirting. It’s how Daisy and I got together, of course.”

“But Donald,” Goofy said. “Every time you tried to flirt with Daisy, she just scowled at you?”

Donald tapped the steering wheel impatiently. “Not _every_ time.”

“What did you do to flirt with her?” Sora asked eagerly, leaning forward in his chair.

“Like I said,” Donald explained with more patience than Sora was used to. “I’m an expert. I bought her flowers and smiled at her, and I touched her arm when I brought her back little souvenirs from the worlds we visited. Or sometimes I playfully teased her.”

“And then she bumped him on the head,” Goofy added helpfully.

Donald squawked something so unintelligibly that even Sora had no idea what he was saying. Goofy just grinned.

“So…” Sora started, considering. “You flirted with _Daisy_ …”

“Of course,” Donald said, turning back to Sora. “Who else would I have flirted with?”

“And when Shang and Mulan smile at each other…they’re flirting too?”

“Yes,” Goofy said. “Or hey, do you remember when Rapunzel and Eugene were whispering to each other all the time when we were in Corona?”

Sora nodded. “They were flirting too?”

“They were,” Goofy said. “And when Meg winks at Hercules and he goes a little flustered. Or when King Mickey and Queen Minnie hold hands and rub their noses together.”

It was like a lightbulb had been turned on in Sora’s head, illuminating corners that he’d never really stopped to consider before. Daisy and Donald. Rapunzel and Eugene. Meg and Hercules. Mulan and Shang. King Mickey and Queen Minnie. It may have taken him some time to figure out, but suddenly he realised the kind of relationship between all those people.

“So when you _like_ _like_ someone, you flirt with them? When you _love_ them?”

“Yes!” Goofy exclaimed. “That’s it exactly.”

Sora was so excited that he’d finally figured out the full meaning of the word ‘flirting’ that he just turned it over in his mind repeatedly. All of the times he’d seen people flirting together, and he’d never realised that’s what they’d been doing. Or _why_ they’d been doing it. But now he finally knew!

His first impulse was to call Riku to tell him all about it—Riku had said he didn’t know what flirting meant either, so Sora was excited to tell him. It wasn’t often he knew something that Riku didn’t. But somehow, it didn’t feel like something he wanted to talk to Riku about over the phone, so with all his self-control, he made himself wait until they were back at the Tower.

Thoughts of mission debriefings forgotten, Sora hopped out of the gummi ship the second they touched down and took the stairs up to his and Riku’s room five steps at the time. He couldn’t _wait_ to tell Riku what he’d learned.

He threw open the door with such force that it slammed into their shared wardrobe. Sora winced a little as the door fell shut behind him, and Riku’s head snapped up from where he was reading his book, on his stomach on his bed.

Sora spread his arms in a triumphant gesture, beaming. “Riku! I figured it out!”

Riku closed his book and sat up into a cross-legged position. “What?”

“I know what flirting is!” Sora exclaimed.

It was only because Sora was watching Riku so intently that he saw Riku’s eyes widen minutely. Then Riku looked down at the book in his lap, took a deep breath and looked up again. “Oh?”

“Yeah!” Sora continued, heedless of the way Riku was acting just a little off. “We were in the Land of the Dragons, and we teamed up with Shang and Mulan, and they always _smile_ at each other a lot. Just like we do, Riku! And then I talked to Donald, and he said he only ever flirts with Daisy. And then Goofy said that when we were in Corona, and we met Rapunzel and Eugene, right? And at one point they were just really close to each other and whispering and smiling, and they were always looking for an excuse to touch each other. And they always tease each other. And Goofy said that’s what Meg and Hercules do, too, and—” Sora suddenly broke off.

 _Oh_.

He directed his gaze down at the carpet, where he started twisting the tip of his right boot into the floor.

_Ohhhhhh._

“Sora?” Riku’s voice was a little bit strained, and Sora’s eyes shot back from the carpet to Riku’s face. His expression was an interesting mix of hesitance and amusement.

“I…” Sora trailed off, his knees suddenly weak and his hands a little shaky. All the examples Donald and Goofy had mentioned were people that were in _love_ with each other. And if he and Riku had been flirting… And Sora _knew_ now that they had been flirting, he just hadn’t realised that that was what he’d been doing. But that meant…

Swaying on his feet, he walked forwards the few steps to Riku’s bed and sat down on the edge, keeping more distance between himself and Riku than he normally would.

Kairi had mentioned all the things people did when they flirted. Lea had made Sora realise that people didn’t flirt with someone just because they were best friends. But it wasn’t until now that the lightbulb in Sora’s brain was at full power and he realised that…people who flirt with each other _like_ each other. And not just as best friends. But as… _more_ than friends.

“Flirting is…when you _like_ someone,” Sora whispered to his hands fidgeting in his lap. He rubbed the fingers of his right hand over the callouses in the palm of his left, picking at the rough skin. “Roxas said we flirt with each other. Kairi said that, too. And Lea.”

Gathering all his courage, Sora looked up and over at Riku. Riku’s face was impossibly red, but he kept eye-contact with Sora, his eyes wide and brighter than Sora ever remembered them being. It looked like he’d stopped breathing, too.

“Please breathe,” Sora said.

As if he’d been waiting for those words, Riku inhaled deeply, shakily.

“Riku… Do you think we flirt with each other?”

Riku finally averted his gaze, his fingers rubbing back and forth over the book cover. His hair fell over his forehead and into his eyes, so Sora could no longer see them. He was quiet for a long time.

“Yeah,” Riku finally said, his voice so soft that Sora could barely hear him. “Yeah, I thought… I thought maybe we do. I hoped maybe…” Riku trailed off.

Seeing Riku so vulnerable and insecure tugged at Sora’s chest, and he shuffled closer across the bedspread until his thigh was pressed against Riku’s knee. He reached out and took Riku’s hand in both of his. Without thinking, just following what his racing heart told him to do, he reached out to brush Riku’s hair away from his forehead.

Riku looked up, and when their eyes met, this time Sora was the one to stop breathing. Riku really was unfairly beautiful. His fingers slid into Riku’s hair.

“I didn’t know what it meant,” Sora said softly, his voice unsteady.

Riku nodded. “I know.”

“But now I do,” Sora said, a little bashful for some reason.

Riku nodded again, but he didn’t say anything more. Sora took a deep breath and decided that he would be brave for both of them.

“It’s because…” His breath stuttered, and he promptly lost his nerve.

Riku, who had sat frozen like a statue ever since Sora had taken his hand, reached out with his free hand to place it on Sora’s knee. The warm feeling of Riku’s palm soaked into Sora’s skin through his trousers, spreading out pleasantly all over his leg. Little tingles spread up his spine and made something prickle pleasantly at the back of his neck.

This is how he _always_ felt around Riku, he suddenly realised. He felt safe and loved and happy, and his heart would skip a few beats sometimes and his skin would feel warm and charged, and he would want nothing more than for Riku to _look_ at him.

He let all these feelings power him as he gathered his courage.

“It’s because I like you,” Sora finished.

“I like you, too,” Riku said softly.

“You mean…” Sora started. “ _Like_ like me?”

“Yes,” Riku said with a hint of a shy smile. “I like like you. Is that… Is that okay?”

“Yes!” Sora burst into peals of laughter, letting himself fall forward to wrap his arms around Riku’s shoulders. He nuzzled his face into the side of Riku’s neck, squeezing tightly because he was suddenly overcome with a wave of energy so strong it left him reeling. When he inhaled, there was the smell of Riku from so up-close that it made Sora a little dizzy.

After a few seconds, Riku hugged him back, gently drawing him closer, into Riku’s lap. Sora wrapped his legs around Riku’s waist so they were the closest they could possibly be like this.

“It’s very okay,” Sora said because he felt like that was important to clarify. “I don’t know… I don’t know why I didn’t figure it out sooner. I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay,” Riku said firmly.

“Really?” Sora asked in a small voice. He felt a little stupid that apparently everyone apart from him had realised before he had.

“Really,” Riku confirmed, and Sora sighed a little when Riku started patting the back of his head. “I’m glad you figured it out for yourself.”

Sora pulled back because this seemed like the sort of conversation you should have face to face, but the moment he did, his face was suddenly _very_ close to Riku’s, his eyes fixed on Riku’s, and he forgot what he wanted to say.

And Riku didn’t move away. His mouth fell open a little as he said, “Oh.”

Sora had seen people kiss before. But he’d never before imagined _himself_ kissing anyone.

He did now, though, with a force that all but overwhelmed him. He suddenly wondered all sorts of things about kissing that he’d never thought about before. Like if Riku’s lips would be warm or soft or maybe a little wet because they looked a little shiny like he’d been licking them. Or if he would have to keep his mouth closed or open. Or what to do with his tongue.

Riku was looking at him with such a sappy, adoring expression, that something light and happy fluttered wildly in Sora’s stomach. His hand had at some point returned to Riku’s face, cupping Riku’s cheek, and he curled his fingers gently, feeling the resulting shiver that seemed to go through Riku’s entire body.

Riku inhaled and said quietly, “I’d really like to kiss you.”

Sora nodded, exhaling, “Me too,” before Riku slowly leaned in, and Sora subconsciously closed his eyes, and then their lips touched.

It was unlike anything Sora had ever felt. Their noses squished together a little, making both of them giggle, but then Riku turned his head and their lips intertwined perfectly on the second attempt.

Riku’s hand slid to the back of Sora’s neck, holding him there gently, and Sora let out a little sound between a sigh and a moan as their lips gently pressed together a little firmer. Sora cupped Riku’s face with both hands, letting his lips curl into a little smile. With so many feelings inside of him, he felt like laughing and crying at the same time; he had no idea it was possible to feel this _happy_. Or that kissing Riku would be this much _fun_.

Like right here, right now, was the moment his entire life had been working towards.

Sora had no idea how long they’d been kissing—it couldn’t have been that long because even though he hadn’t been breathing during the kiss, he wasn’t feeling too dizzy yet. Riku pulled back just far enough for their foreheads to press together and for their breaths to mingle, both markedly quicker than usual.

He opened his eyes to see Riku staring at him, his gaze so full of wonder and delight that Sora squirmed a little.

“I…” Riku started. “I really like you, Sora. I wanted to tell you so many times, but I could never figure out how…”

Sora smiled brightly at him in return. Now that he knew, the entire world just looked so much _brighter_.

“I really like you, too, Riku.” He paused, tilting his head a little. “Hey, we can still flirt, right? I really like flirting with you.”

Riku laughed, and he looked like the weight of the world had been lifted off his shoulders, his entire body relaxed and so warm and _close_. Sora wanted to see Riku like this all the time, it made him feel happy and relaxed as well.

“You can flirt with me as much as you want, Sora,” Riku said with a smile that bordered on a smirk.

“Okay!” Sora replied, leaning back a little to grin at Riku properly. “But only if you flirt with me, too.”

“Of course,” Riku nodded. “After all, that’s only fair.”

**Author's Note:**

> Please come talk to me about Sora and Riku on [Twitter](https://twitter.com/fortheloveinyou) :D


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